The ubiquitous spirit tide held the power to destroy heaven and earth.
The entire world was a desolate, boundless expanse.
Amidst the spirit tides, the four-colored cloud seemed tiny, yet it advanced steadily.
No one knew how deep they had traveled into the Ancient Immortal Battlefield, but at that moment, a streak of purple light suddenly appeared to the left front of the four-colored cloud. Weaving through the spirit tides at astonishing speed, it rapidly approached the four-colored cloud.
Upon closer inspection, the purple rainbow was actually a warship!
Had Qin Sang been able to see the warship, he would have recognized it immediately: it was a unique flying magic tool of the Heaven-Traversing Alliance known as a Heaven-Traversing Warship.
Whatever magic tools the Heaven-Traversing Alliance produced seemed to follow a uniform design, with nearly identical functions and differing only in grade.
However, this particular Heaven-Traversing Warship was more than ten times larger than the biggest warship Qin Sang had ever seen before.
"Old ox-nose, dragging your feet until now—I thought you were scared of dying and didn't dare come to Ziwei Palace!"
The four-colored cloud halted in place to wait for the Heaven-Traversing Warship to draw near, and the Red-Haired Ancestor's mocking voice rang out from within.
Quietly remaining inside the red cloud, Qin Sang realized the Heaven-Traversing Alliance cultivators had arrived. He opened his eyes wide and looked out, but could only see a long streak of purple light.
A cold snort sounded from the warship, giving tit for tat. "Red-Haired old ghost, as far as I can see, the older you get, the more cowardly you become, regressing with every passing year! When we enter Ziwei Palace this time, you had better not perish inside!"
The Red-Haired Ancestor sneered, "This old man is still waiting to collect your corpse, so I'll naturally outlive you by a few days at least. I heard you failed your forced breakthrough to the late Nascent Soul stage—truly a cause for congratulations! You didn't make matters worse and injure yourself, did you? If Sin Abyss seizes the opening to strike, your line will be wiped out entirely!"
The person on the warship said angrily, "When the lips are gone, the teeth are cold! If something happens to the Heaven-Traversing Alliance, do you really think your Lesser Cold Domain can stand untouched? You had better think carefully about my proposal the other day to join forces. If you are unkind, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
After a brief pause, the Red-Haired Ancestor ceased shouting and sent a sinister voice transmission: "What? Old ox-nose, do you actually plan to surrender to Sin Abyss and live under someone else's thumb?"
This time, it was the person on the warship who assumed an air of composure, replying coolly, "If the situation proves untenable and circumstances force my hand, how could this old Daoist allow all living beings and so many disciples of the Heaven-Traversing Alliance to be buried alongside me? Living under another's thumb is still better than throwing one's life away! I would like to see just how much longer your Lesser Cold Domain can remain untroubled!"
The Red-Haired Ancestor grew furious. "You dare threaten me..."
"Do you truly think I am joking?"
The person on the warship sneered. "Red-Haired old ghost, why don't you come with me and see just how aggressive Sin Abyss has become! If Sin God Palace and Ziwei Palace hadn't opened on the very same day, keeping those old monsters in Sin Abyss from wanting to miss the chance to hunt for treasures, I might not have even come to Ziwei Palace today."
The Red-Haired Ancestor faltered.
Finally, someone stepped in to mediate.
Demon Monarch Tongyou's voice drifted out from the demonic energy. "Enough, Fellow Daoists. Now is not the time for bickering. Though Sin Abyss is formidable, they have not reached the point where we need to fear them so deeply. For now, our priority remains Ziwei Palace; it will not be too late to discuss the matter in detail after we return. Fellow Daoist Zhenyi, you have gathered all the spiritual materials needed to set up the Lesser Beichen Star Element Formation, haven't you?"
With Demon Monarch Tongyou intervening, the Red-Haired Ancestor and Daoist Zhenyi ceased their squabbling.
Daoist Zhenyi said with a twinge of heartache, "I accept my loss! It took me over ten full years of searching just to barely scrape them together. You had better make sure nothing goes wrong on your end."
Before his voice died away, a voice booming like thunder resounded from the iridescent demonic mist where the demon cultivators of Heavenly Demon Mound were gathered: "Fellow Daoists, put your minds at ease. I have brought our clan's supreme treasure, and I guarantee nothing will go awry."
"Good!"
Demon Monarch Tongyou said calmly, "Everything is prepared, and we lack only the eastern wind. Ahead, spatial rifts are densely scattered everywhere. Even we must proceed with utmost caution. I ask that all of you put aside your prejudices and cooperate in earnest."
As they spoke, the Heaven-Traversing Warship had already flown close to the four-colored cloud, reducing its speed and slowly drawing alongside.
In the end, the two drew right next to each other and advanced side by side.
Sure enough, not long after setting out, they encountered a spatial rift ahead.
The spatial rift gleamed with milky-white light. It appeared exceedingly slender as it floated in the void, remaining completely motionless even under the battering of the spirit tides.
If anything, it was the spirit tides that suffered damage.
No matter how vast a spirit tide was, the moment it touched the spatial rift, it was easily sliced in two. One could hardly tell whether the spirit tide was not powerful enough or the spatial rift was simply that terrifying.
Even with the Nascent Soul cultivators of the two domains joined together, they still dared not provoke the spatial rift and immediately steered around it.
At first, there were few spatial rifts, but the deeper they went, the denser they became, and some were even deeply hidden and difficult to detect.
The danger here was by no means inferior to the inner valley of Boundless Valley.
Not only did they have to withstand the impact of the spirit tides, but they also had to dodge the spatial rifts, causing their speed to plummet.
Silence reigned within the red cloud.
All that could be heard was the rumbling roar of the spirit tides.
With his own safety resting in the hands of the Nascent Soul cultivators, Qin Sang could only leave his fate to heaven. He felt the cloud swerve left one moment and right the next, sometimes even making a wide detour, with no telling when the journey would end.
Clearly sensing their pace slowing, Qin Sang was secretly astonished by the terrifying nature of the Ancient Immortal Battlefield's core region, which forced so many Nascent Soul figures to tread with such caution.
As they moved forward, they even encountered sudden dangers on several occasions, veering sharply and wheeling about, leaving everyone deeply anxious.
Time slipped past.
The Heaven-Traversing Warship and the four-colored cloud seemed to stumble along, but in truth, they passed through without real danger, advancing steadily the entire time.
They flew for the better part of a day.
Suddenly, Qin Sang felt the red cloud come to a halt. Just as he wondered if some mishap had occurred, soft exclamations broke out around him: "Ziwei Palace is here!"
Qin Sang's heart stirred. He rose abruptly to his feet and widened his eyes to gaze ahead.
When he saw the landscape before him, he could not help but draw a sharp breath, stunned by a magnificent celestial spectacle unlike anything he had ever seen before!
Directly ahead lay a desolate desert. The ground was riddled with deep pits, visibly gouged by the spirit tides; any dunes that had once existed had likely been pulverized flat, allowing one to see all the way to the horizon in a single glance.
Rarely enough, this vast expanse ahead was completely devoid of spatial rifts.
Deep within the desert, high above in the vault of heaven:
The sky was no longer filled with pervasive spirit tides. Instead, there was a white cyclone of wind and clouds shaped like the eye of a storm, stretching endlessly beyond the reach of sight.
No, it was not that there were no spirit tides!
The spiritual energy of heaven and earth had all been drawn into the swirling cyclone, unable to break free!
Inside the cyclone of wind and clouds, everything appeared remarkably calm. The white clouds seemed almost motionless, lacking the wild, violent fury of the spirit tides.
The cyclone blotted out the sun and sky, hanging extremely low. Even from such a great distance, it weighed upon Qin Sang with an overwhelming sense of oppression, giving rise to an innate feeling of helplessness at his own insignificance.
Not just Qin Sang—the expressions of the others grew palpably solemn as they stared blankly at the sight.
Ziwei Palace lay right at the center of that cyclone!
Chapter 559